(10-05-2016 10:05 AM)yakherder Wrote: Best of all, without the American republicans forcing their agendas down everyone's throats, most people were atheist.

The Democrats are more to blame than the Republicans for that, IMO, but even that isn't really true. People join political parties that espouse their beliefs, and political parties adjust their agendas based on what is popular to survive. It goes both ways. It just so happens, right now, there are fewer evangelical Christians in the Democratic Party than the GOP. It hasn't always been so, and one day it may reverse again...assuming the GOP doesn't completely implode this election, which they may.

(10-05-2016 03:18 PM)Stevil Wrote: Am I missing something?
You hate Americans who are proud Muslims and willing to hold a sign saying that they are Muslim Americans?

How do you feel about Americans who are proud Christians and willing to hold a sign saying that they are Christian Americans?

I was wondering about that myself. I'd like to know the context of that picture -- why are these people holding these signs? To what are they responding? And what is the reason for hating them? In general, I see nothing wrong with being Muslim-American, or being proud of it.

I'm guessing that the 'hate' is directed at whoever added the caption under the pic telling the Muslims to go back where they came from.

Atheism: it's not just for communists any more!
America July 4 1776 - November 8 2016 RIP

(10-05-2016 08:32 AM)earmuffs Wrote: For me the biggest issue with Americans is fanatical patriotism. You guys are like fascists. Minus the dictatorship and genocide. And I'm not talking about a small minority group. I'm talking the majority of the population. "America is the greatest country in the world!" shit. You have some stupid pledge you make children say at school. You think you're the only country to have a constitution when nearly every country in the world has one. Every western country has the same or more rights than you guys. "We have freedom!" is meaningless. So do I. So does most of Europe, Canada, Australia etc.. The only thing great about America is your military firepower, but hows that been working out for you lately? The only reason you have a large military power is so you can bully countries into doing what you wanna do.
I think this is where Americans differ from the rest of the west. I think Europeans, Kiwi's, Aussies and Canadians love their countries, but they're not fanatical patriots about it. We accept our faults. We can see other countries doing things better and learn from that. You put your fingers in your ears and scream lalala and ignore them all the while screaming "America is the greatest country in the world!!".

That's a mentality that irks the shit out of me too, but in large part it's an exaggerated and ugly stereotype. You may be surprised to find out how few Americans actually feel that way though. We have a long history of protest, political dissent, and unrest in this country, but I fear this sentiment is in a real downturn. There has always been an undercurrent and counter-culture in the USA which opposes the status quo - though I admit that opposition has been less vocal and prominent in recent years. These voices are not likely to be the ones you can hear all the way from New Zealand.

Sure I get it's mostly a stereotype. But the issue is it's a stereotype that the rest of the world sees. And the original question was 'does the world hate America?'. It's a loud loud voice in your country, especially in politics. But it's also subtle, but highly noticeable to outsiders, in media. Movies, video games, TV shows. It's everywhere.
You can't watch an American made WW2 movie without it being all about how America won the war. If you got your history simply from movies you'd think WW2 was about America v Nazi Germany. Forget France or UK's or any other countries involvement. Or movies about how America saves the world from nuclear war or whatever. Or how Aliens invade America. Or whatever. It's always 'Murica! 'Murica! 'Murica! Who Ra! Superhero movies are a great example. Hell, there's a Superhero called Captain 'Murica, even though he has an Liberian flag on his shield.

Quote:Not to start a debate or be offensive, but there are people sewing their mouths shut in protest and children killing themselves in your nation's Nauru immigration detention center in Papua New Guinea that would possibly disagree... (Though we may catch up, I believe it was either Geo Group or Corrections Corporation of America that just got a massive federal contract involving immigration on the southern border and are salivating at the chance to fill their private prisons with migrant detainees.)

If we're going down the foreign soil dependency route allow me to jump in.
How's Puerto Rico's financial situation? Or voting rights situation for that matter.
And of course, how's that Cuban torture working out for you?

Quote:Now of course not all kiwis are that way, and perhaps the perception others have of us is different. But what I am getting at is that I think this fight between "Capitalism" vs "Communism" might be a limiter to the American potential, just as it is limiting the Chinese and the Arabs.

This. So much this.
This is America's biggest issue and biggest root cause to most of your guys problems.

Quote:Safety is something that we could improve on as well, but I don't necessarily think safety is the most important thing either. A lot of Americans would agree that freedom is more important than safety. You have to find the right balance.

I agree with this. I just HIGHLY disagree with the balance you have currently.
But it's not just that, it's also execution. Example. Switzerland has A LOT of guns and yet it's an extremely safe country. New Zealand has no guns and we're an extremely safe country. So what's America doing wrong? I don't like your gun system, but I get that the issue isn't the guns. It's something else.

(10-05-2016 02:56 PM)Free Thought Wrote: I personally love the US. Because I know that for all the myriad shit that is wrong with Australia, at least we aren't as bad as the yanks.

Not to start a debate or be offensive, but there are people sewing their mouths shut in protest and children killing themselves in your nation's Nauru immigration detention center in Papua New Guinea that would possibly disagree... (Though we may catch up, I believe it was either Geo Group or Corrections Corporation of America that just got a massive federal contract involving immigration on the southern border and are salivating at the chance to fill their private prisons with migrant detainees.)

No, you're right; the government is going some absolutely monstrous things, that's a part of the innumerable things wrong with this damn country.

But at least we don't have elected officials using snowballs to disprove climate change, and we are yet to employ flying death-bots.

The people closely associated with the namesake of female canines are suffering from a nondescript form of lunacy.
"Anti-environmentalism is like standing in front of a forest and going 'quick kill them they're coming right for us!'" - Jake Farr-Wharton, The Imaginary Friend Show.

(10-05-2016 04:24 PM)Grasshopper Wrote: I was wondering about that myself. I'd like to know the context of that picture -- why are these people holding these signs? To what are they responding? And what is the reason for hating them? In general, I see nothing wrong with being Muslim-American, or being proud of it.

I'm guessing that the 'hate' is directed at whoever added the caption under the pic telling the Muslims to go back where they came from.

OK, that would make more sense, but my initial impression was that the text below the photo was added by the person who posted it. It wasn't clear that he was complaining about the text rather than the photo. If that's the case, no problem.

I don't hate Americans. My trip to the US last year left me with a very good impression I'd say.

In Greece, however, "American" is just another word for "stupid". We are closer to the Middle East and generally close to most of the countries the US felt the need to get involved with the past few decades and the news were always close to us.

And of course, the news we get from America almost always have to do with silly laws, school shootings, wars, or people like Trump. So I guess it makes sense that people here would have such biased views against Americans.

"Behind every great pirate, there is a great butt."-Guybrush Threepwood-

(11-05-2016 09:10 AM)undergroundp Wrote: And of course, the news we get from America almost always have to do with silly laws, school shootings, wars, or people like Trump. So I guess it makes sense that people here would have such biased views against Americans.

I spent some time "somewhere east of the Bosporus" back in the '70s. I met one family after the father invited me home for dinner. When I arrived he introduced me to the kids and the youngest just stared, then started an argument with Dad. He had to send the kid off.

(10-05-2016 05:23 PM)unfogged Wrote: I'm guessing that the 'hate' is directed at whoever added the caption under the pic telling the Muslims to go back where they came from.

OK, that would make more sense, but my initial impression was that the text below the photo was added by the person who posted it. It wasn't clear that he was complaining about the text rather than the photo. If that's the case, no problem.

He is the one who added the text.

(31-07-2014 04:37 PM)Luminon Wrote: America is full of guns, but they're useless, because nobody has the courage to shoot an IRS agent in self-defense